RELIGION and SPIRITUALITY

RELIGION AND
SPIRITUALITY

Psychiatry and Islam

Saxby Pridmore and Mohamed Iqbal Pasha

Objective: To explore psychiatry in Islam, with a view to informing

Western psychiatrists working with Islamic patients, and Islamic medical
students studying in Western countries.
Methods: The first necessary step was to acquire some understanding of
Islam, Sharia and Sharia law, as the basis on which the available psychiatric literature was considered. Standard textbooks on Islam and Englishlanguage papers in the psychiatric literature were examined. Discussions
with knowledgeable Muslim people were conducted.
Results: Islam shares roots with the other Abrahamic, monotheistic religions: Judaism and Christianity. A central issues is unity: the unity of God,
unity with God and unity within the Islamic community. Islam is more than
a religion, because it informs all aspects of behaviour and has been described
as a comprehensive way of life. Individualism is less important than the
welfare of the community. The Sharia is a list of rules and regulations
derived from authentic sources. Psychiatric services in Islam, according to
Western standards, are somewhat limited. This issue is being addressed
through epidemiological studies, provision of new services and policy development. Although mental health legislation is not universal, forensic psychiatry has a role, in many ways similar to that in the West.
Conclusion: Islam is based on unity and core values of compassion,
justice and benevolence. Islamic psychiatry has a proud early history, and
advances are occurring. There is an opportunity for the profession of psychiatry to bridge religious, ethnic and cultural boundaries.
Key words: forensic psychiatry, Islam, psychiatry, Sharia.

he aim of the present paper is to explore psychiatry in Islam.

Such an exploration may inform psychiatrists working in Western
countries with Islamic patients, Western psychiatrists travelling to
Islamic countries, and Islamic medical students studying in Western
countries. Like any important issue, the role of the psychiatrist in Islam
can be understood only in context.

Australasian Psychiatry Vol 12, No 4 December 2004

HISTORY AND PRINCIPLES

380

Islam is the religion whose founder is the Prophet, Mohammed. A

Muslim is an adherent of the Islamic religion. Muslims represent the
majority population in 56 countries, and form more than one-fifth
(1.2 billion) of the world population.
The Christian, Jewish and Islamic religions have the same roots and more
similarities than differences. All believe in one (monotheistic) and the
same God/Allah. All believe in the prophets Abraham and Moses.
Saxby Pridmore
Clinical Professor, Discipline of Psychiatry, University of
Tasmania, Hobart, Tas., Australia.
Mohamed Iqbal Pasha
Psychiatrist in private practice, Melbourne, Vic., Australia.
Correspondence: Professor Saxby Pridmore, 67 Davey Street,
Hobart, Tas. 7000, Australia.
Email: spridmore@iprimus.com.au

Abraham and his wife Sarah lived in Canaan (Palestine) and were childless.
When it seemed that Abraham would not have an heir, Sarah suggested he
attempt to procreate with her servant, Hagar. This union produced a boy
who was called Ishmael. Sarah then became pregnant herself, and gave
birth to Isaac. Sarah became concerned that, as the first born, Ishmael
would be the prime inheritor and eclipse her own son. Accordingly, Sarah
prevailed on Abraham to send Hagar and Ishmael away. This happened,
and Hagar and Ishmael went to a location at or near where Mecca

currently stands. The descendants of Isaac became the

Hebrew tribes who became Jews and the descendants
of Ishmael became the Muslims. Abraham is prominent in the Old Testament (Christian scripture); thus,
these are the three Abrahamic religions.
Muslims also believe in Adam, David, Solomon, Noah
and John the Baptist. They believe in angels, heaven
and hell, and the Day of Judgement. They believe
that Jesus will return to Jerusalem prior to the Day of
Judgement. They believe that Mary (who is mentioned more times in the Koran than the New Testament) had a virgin conception. They believe her
pregnancy was a miracle, but not that Jesus was the
son of God. They believe in large passages of the
Torah (Jewish scripture) and the Old Testament.
Muslims believe that God revealed himself to Moses
and Jesus, and that the Jews and Christians received
a perfectly valid revelation, but that they deviated
from the teachings. Some extant Moslem scholars
believe that other people such as the Hindus and
Buddhists have received their message from the same
divine source.1
In the centuries following the time of Jesus, in what
is now Saudi Arabia, there had been the continuation
of polytheism (belief in more than one god) and
reversion to tribal practices. In this setting Mohammad was born, in 570 CE.
Mohammad was an illiterate member of a lowprestige tribe, but a respected and capable trader. He
was in the habit of meditating in a desert cave near
Mecca. At 40 years of age, he began to hear the words
of Allah, which were transmitted to him through the
archangel Gabriel. This continued for 23 years until
his death in 632 CE. He remembered and recited
these words to others who wrote them down, so
forming the Koran (recitation), the Islamic scripture.
Mohammad was neither the author nor the editor,
but the messenger. He is for Islam the most important
prophet and inspired interpreter of the word of Allah,
and the Perfect Man.

The Koran is a reminder, not a revelation of new

truths. A central message is that submission to the
one god results in peace. The primary act of faith is to
implement Allahs will in both private and public life.
The Koran informs that responsibility to the Islamic
community (united by the belief in one god) is of
central importance, overriding other social, tribal,
ethnic and national ties. This increases the opportunity for living according to Allahs will, and decreases
the likelihood of fighting. As the building block of
community, the importance of the family is emphasized. The integration of the whole of life in a unified

Critics point to the disadvantages of Islamic women

and claim evidence of a cruel religion. This is a
discussion beyond the scope of the present paper.
However, defenders point to Koranic passages promoting peace and justice, the prevention of harm and
the protection of the disadvantaged.
Islam is a comprehensive way of life. Muslims believe
that religion cannot be separated from social and
political life, because religion informs every action a
person takes. Many passages of the Koran support a
strong relationship between Islam, the state and society. Thus, the secularization of the state as exists in the
West is considered incompatible with Islam, and is not
desired by a significant proportion of Islamic people.
Sharia means the path, and refers to the path that
Muslims should follow. Sharia is a set of regulations,
principles and values from which Islamic legislation
and law are drawn. It is a guide to every action, and
divides them into five divisions: obligatory, meritorious, permissible, reprehensible and forbidden.
In a setting of political unrest and disenchantment
with leaders, Abu Hanifah (699767 CE) began collecting information leading to the formulation of the
Sharia. Thus, this legal system began as a protest
movement, an attempt to rebuild society and establish compassion and social justice.
Sharia law provides the guidelines and requirements
for two types of interactions: those between humans
and Allah (worship); and those between humans (social
transactions). Classical Sharia manuals are divided into
four sets of laws concerned with worship, commercial
dealings, marriage and divorce, and penal laws.
The are four main roots or sources of Sharia.
(1) The Koran details the manner in which Allah
should be worshipped, but is not a comprehensive
code of law. It sets out general and ethical principles that guide all aspects of Islamic life. It does
provide rules on a range of matters including
modesty, marriage, divorce, inheritance, intoxicants, gambling, feuding, diet, theft, murder and
adultery. Certain crimes (hudud) are listed, along
with the appropriate punishments. However, it
does not help with a range of other issues. Accordingly, because Mohammed was considered the
Perfect Man and the most inspired interpreter of
the Koran, his behaviour and utterances are taken
as additional source information.
(2) The Sunna includes all the known sayings and
actions of Mohammed, his decisions, and his
responses to life situations and to philosophical
and legal questions. Six collections of Sunna that
were written in the 9th and 10th centuries are
accepted as authoritative.

Australasian Psychiatry Vol 12, No 4 December 2004

The Koran is 114 chapters, mostly arranged in order of

length, the longest first. The early chapters cover many
pages in English script, the late chapters less than one.

community gives believers intimations of the Unity

which is God.1

381

(3) Analogy (qiya) is a source of rules, when direct

instruction cannot be found in the Koran or the
Sunna. For example, the Koran forbids the use of
wine, because of the threat intoxication poses to
the Islamic community. By analogy, the use of any
intoxicant is banned.
(4) Consensus (ijma) among scholars may also be taken
as law. Ijma follows from Mohammeds statement,
My community will never agree on an error,
which is taken to mean that if all agreed, a law
could be safely made.
Sharia law is unique in that the texts are of divine
rather than of human origin, and substantial parts
of it can never be modified. However, independent
conscience and reasoning (ijtihad) has been used to
make law. Ijtihad has, at times, been acceptable only
to a proportion of Islam.
Differences exist between the major law schools, reflecting the diverse geographical, social, historical and
cultural contexts in which the respective jurists were
writing. For example, the Shii, an influential minority
(who believe that succession to the political and religious leadership of the community should be hereditary
through Mohammads daughter, Fatima) accept the
Koran, Sunna and their recollections of Ali (Mohammads cousin and son-in-law) and other authority figures. The Sunni, the majority of Muslims (who believe
that succession to leadership should belong to the most
qualified and pious person, and not blood relationship)
do not hold Ali in the same regard. Nevertheless, there
is close agreement on Sharia across Islam.

Australasian Psychiatry Vol 12, No 4 December 2004

There are two groups of crime/punishment. The

hudud, mentioned earlier, are specific crimes, which
are considered attacks against Allah and social order.
They attract specific hudud punishments such as
stoning, flogging and amputation, as described in the
Koran (see later). The other group is the tazir, which
attract punishments such as imprisonment and fines,
as decided by a judge (qadi).

382

The Western media has made mention of bloodmoney, amputation and stoning. The judicial systems
and the relative importance placed on the different
roots of Sharia vary throughout Islam. Blood-money
is compensation paid by a murderer or his/her family
to the family of murdered individuals, and is listed in
the Koran. Supporters state that this mechanism
overcomes the need for capital punishment, does not
injure the perpetrators family in the same way as do
the alternatives, reduces the need for expensive prisons and gives something back to the surviving relatives. Amputation of the hand of the thief is a matter
of debate. Some translations of the Koran (5:38) state
only that the hand is cut or marked and not
removed. The most commonly available Englishlanguage translation of the Koran in Australia, however, does use the words cut off. The principle of

compensation also applies in theft, and if the thief

can provide goods or undertake work for the victim,
this course may be taken. Stoning to death has been
considered a punishment for married adulterers.
However, on this point there is a difference between
the Koran and the Sunna (example set by Mohammad). The Koran (24:2) makes no mention of stoning,
but states that the appropriate punishment is 100
strokes of a whip in public. The public nature of the
whipping is to shame the offender, and provide an
example to the audience. The strokes may be applied
symbolically. Stoning appears in the Sunna literature
and was ordered by Mohammad in adultery. This is
one of the relatively rare instances of disagreement
between the Koran and the Sunna, and is the cause of
much discussion.3
Sharia law has been replaced in part, in most of Islam,
by the impositions of colonialists. Saudi Arabia
applies the most pure form. In Egypt, the majority of
Muslims would like to see Sharia as the law of the
land, whereas in Turkey (the first and only state in
the Islamic world to claim secularism), only 3% are
of this view.1 Nasr believes there is a desire by the
majority of Muslims to preserve their religious and
cultural identity, to reapply the Divine Law that was
replaced by European legal codes .2 Commonly,
states embrace a combination of Western and Sharia
law, a weird mixture of medieval family law and an
alien commercial and civil law.3

COMMON FEATURES OF ISLAMIC

CULTURE
Culture is influenced by history, place and time.
Although different groups experience different influences, Islamic cultures around the world share common features. These include the following: (i) family
interdependence and loyalty are strongly encouraged;
(ii) societies are mainly patriarchal and hierarchal
and keenly support deference to authority; (iii) these
are relatively collectivistic societies in which the
individuals behaviour is determined more by norms,
roles and goals of their collective, than by personal
attitudes, perceived rights and dislikes; and (iv) traditional values are emphasized in favour of social
constancy, and cultural change is perceived as threat.

MENTAL HEALTH AND SERVICES IN

ISLAMIC SOCIETIES
The first psychiatric hospitals of the world were
probably built in Arab cities: Baghdad in 705 CE,
Cairo in 800 CE and Damascus in 1270 CE.4 In Turkey,
special psychiatric wards were built onto a general
hospital in 1555 and a specific psychiatric hospital
was built in 1583.5 The great Muslim physicians
include al-Razi (d. 925) who wrote a 24-volume
encyclopedia of medicine and who treated psychiatric patients, and Ibn Sina (Avicenna; d 1037) who

wrote the 14-volume The Cannons of Medicine, which

was used in the West for 700 years. Ibn Sina rejected
the notion that mental illness was caused by evil
spirits (jinns).
Because there are more than 50 Islamic states, there
is no satisfactory single description of mental health
services possible. Little English language information
is available. The first modern psychiatric hospital in
the Middle East was the Roozbeh Psychiatric Hospital,
in Tehran, Iran, which opened in 1937 and which
was staffed by two European trained psychiatrists.
In some Islamic states, the promise suggested by the
auspicious beginnings, mentioned earlier, have not
persisted. In Saudi Arabia, the popular view is that
mental illness is the punishment of Allah or inflicted
by evil spirits. There are some regions providing
advanced treatments but other treatments include cauterization, beatings and exorcism.6 Before 1950 there
were no proper arrangements for mentally ill patients,
and they were warehoused in residential houses. The
first modern psychiatric hospital in Saudi Arabia was
built in 1962.7 The picture is similar in Pakistan, where
the majority believe mental illness is caused by
demonic possession. Patients are still kept in bondage
chained, beaten, parts of their bodies burnt.8

Iran (population 60 million) has a range of psychiatric services and a dozen universities graduate
50 psychiatrists each year. A recent Iranian study,
which sampled 35 000 individuals, found the prevalence of mental disorders to be compatible with
international studies.13 A World Health Organization
(WHO) study of depression in different cultures
around the world showed the clinical features of
patients in Tehran to be similar to those elsewhere.14
Post-traumatic stress disorder has been reported in
survivors of the IranIraq war15 and in response to the
Bam earthquake.16
In Malaysia, depression and anxiety commonly
present as somatic symptoms. Obsessivecompulsive

Drug and alcohol use are offences that attract severe

punishments. The Koran proscribes 80 lashes, to
which may be added penalties determined by local
authorities, but charges rarely proceed against those
who seek help. Severe punishments exist for dealers
and distributors. Specialized hospitals and services for
the treatment of substance and alcohol addiction can
be found in Saudi Arabia6 and Iran.20
Suicide is a crime under Islamic law and attempts may
lead to prosecution. Nevertheless, it remains a major
problem for Turkey,21 Uzbekistan22 and other central
Asian countries.23,24 The suicide of a young Muslim
was reported in Australia.25 The authors observed that
the family was rejected by the local Islamic community because of the stigma associated with this event.
Malaysia, Egypt, Iran and many other Islamic states
have active university departments of psychiatry that
provide high-quality inpatient and outpatient services to mentally ill and substance-addicted persons.
In Iraq, medical ethics is a prominent subject at the
University of Basra.26

FORENSIC PSYCHIATRY IN ISLAM

Again, the large number of Islamic states and the very
limited amount of English-language information makes
a comprehensive statement difficult. Kutaiba Chaleby
has provided the first English-language monograph on
forensic psychiatry in Islamic jurisprudence.27
Mens rea (guilty intent) is well accepted as necessary
for guilt, and there is no crime where there is no
intention. The Prophet Mohammed regarded the
young, the sleeping person and the insane as being
free of guilt for acts they may commit. In the West it
was not until the 15th century that the first insanity
acquittal was recorded; Islamic law was dealing with
the issue in the 7th and 8th centuries.27 Insanity
(junun) in Islamic law is determined by the court on
psychiatric advice.4 Insanity has not been universally defined, but generally it takes the form of
impairment of the mind, where it prevents action
and speech from operating on reason, except rarely.
In Turkey, when a significant psychiatric disorder
is believed to have contributed to the commission of
a serious crime, the perpetrator is sentenced to a
specially guarded section of a mental hospital and
treated for at least 1 year.5
Islamic law recognizes sudden perplexity (dahish),
which may also be translated as startled or stunned.
This is associated with sudden loss of reason and,
according to some schools of jurisprudence, with

Australasian Psychiatry Vol 12, No 4 December 2004

Murad and Gordon, however, report that Psychiatry

in contemporary Arab societies is well established.4
Malaysia is pushing ahead with major policy reform
in mental health, including mental health legislation
and attention to the quality of services.9 Mental
health services in Egypt are receiving active attention.10 Lebanon prepared a national mental programme in 1987, but progress has been slow.11 There
are two large mental hospitals, which are full to
capacity most of the time, and only 1.2 psychiatrists
per 100 000 population. Kuwait and Bahrain had
large custodial hospitals that have, to a large extent,
been replaced by more progressive psychiatric services. Qatar (population 500 000) has never had a
dedicated psychiatric hospital and services have been
provided through psychiatric wards attached to general hospitals.12

disorder is most frequently associated with religious

rituals and observances.17 In the Arab Gulf communities, somatization and dissociative symptoms are
common psychiatric conditions,18 and in Saudi Arabia, Munchausens syndrome by proxy is probably
the leading form of child abuse.19

383

respect to criminal responsibility, should be dealt

with along the same lines as insanity.27
Competence to stand trial involves the psychiatrist.28
Islamic justice principles hold that the defendant
should have the same access to the judge as the
plaintiff, and this may be impaired by mental illness.
Most Arab countries have no mental health law as such,
or they have only remnants from the colonial period.
In Saudi Arabia, the mentally ill were assigned a guardian who had to agree to confinement or treatment.7
Under Islamic law, dangerousness need not be a
major issue in involuntary hospitalization; the
emphasis is not on protection of liberty, but
the provision of care.27 Throughout Islamic history,
the State has had the authority to take over a persons
financial affairs under the principle of Al-Hajjer. This
is relevant when the person is behaving with extreme
folly (safahah), such as squandering money. Hajjer is
declared by a judge if an individual is acting contrary
to his own best interests, irrespective of the presence
of mental illness. However, Hajjer does not affect the
individuals ability to manage other personal affairs.
If this principle is extended by analogy (qiya) to
involuntary hospitalization, it can mean the involuntary hospitalization of drug- and alcohol-addicted
persons and those with psychopathic personality.

Australasian Psychiatry Vol 12, No 4 December 2004

In Turkey, it is considered that people who cannot

control their behaviour cannot practice their rights.
Article 89 of the Turkish Civic Law states that only
people with reason have the right to get married.
Article 112 states that if a husband or wife was
suffering from a psychiatric disorder at the time of
marriage, the marriage can be considered invalid.
These provisions are to save people from probable
material and moral risk.5

384

Islamic law, being concerned with family and community, has prescriptive rules regarding inheritance.
An individual can leave only one-third of his estate
to interests outside his natural heirs. The law does
not recognize a will that has been written by a
mentally incompetent individual. The test of mental
competence to make a will is yet to be fully defined.
As aforementioned, although suicide is illegal, it does
occur. In some places, rules, regulations and hospital
polices have been established that limit confidentiality,
such that attempters can be reported to police.28 Recent
reports from Central Asia describe a harsh economic
climate and a dramatic rise in suicide. In Kyrgyzstan, a
Muslim leader recently decreed that those who suicide
may receive religious rites at their burials, and this
represents a departure from Islamic law.23
Although penal and commercial law have been circumvented to some extent by Western thought,
Islamic family law has generally remained in force.29
In divorce, in general, Islamic law will place a child

under the age of 7 years with the mother.28 After

7 years of age, the father will have the right to
custody. There are some gender factors: a male child
may choose which parent he goes to, irrespective of
age, a female child does not have that choice. The
father remains the guardian, wherever the child is
living. The best interests of the child are considered
and psychiatrists may be provide information on the
mental health of parents and the most appropriate
placement of children.
Islam very strongly supports confidentiality. Some
authorities believe that if physicians are pressured in
court to break confidentiality, they are permitted to
give false testimony without being punished by
Allah.28 The Islamic legal system recognizes the principle of the expert witness. However, only a Muslim can
testify in court against a Muslim defendant. and it
follows (qiya) that a psychiatrist should be a Muslim if
presenting an opinion about a Muslim patient.
For centuries, the responsibilities of the physician
have been clearly defined. Liability for malpractice
exists in a wide range of circumstances, including
intentional harm, unintentional harm, violation of
professional standards, ignorance, treatment without
consent, deception, refusal of treatment, and breach
of confidentiality.27

DISCUSSION
Islam is the predominant religion in more than 50
non-English speaking states, and encompasses many
different ethnic groups. There is a limited amount of
information about psychiatry in these regions in the
English language. The aim to examine psychiatry in
Islam may therefore be considered unduly ambitious.
Our approach has been to provide as comprehensive
a coverage of Islam as space allows, to provide a
contextual base on which the available information
on psychiatry can be laid.
There a number of points of interest. The roots of
Christianity, Judaism and Islam (the three Abrahamic
religions) are intertwined. Islam accepts much of the
Torah and the Gospels, that Jesus was a true prophet,
and that Mary had a miracle virgin pregnancy.
The Koran is believed to be the direct word of God/
Allah, spoken to an illiterate man who recited what
he was told, in the 7th century. The Sharia (the
path) and consequent Sharia law is a set of principles
and regulations, arising from academic work, which
arose as a result of discontent with the Umayyad
government (661750 CE).30 They ruled autocratically
and were seen to contravene the scriptures. Thus,
Islamic jurisprudence began as a protest movement,
a desire to return to true Islamic principles.
Central to Islam is the notion of unity. This is a
complex matter with many facets, including that
there is only one god, and there is only one religion

(the prophets who came before Muhammad carried

the same message from the same god, but the message
was unclear or lost). There should also be unity
between all Muslims and, importantly, the believer
should seek unity with Allah. Submission to and unity
with Allah will result in peace. Unity with Allah means
behaving in the manner laid down in the Sharia. Islam
therefore is not simply a religion, but a way of life.
The quest for unity underlies many of the laws of
the Koran. Activities that might disrupt the Islamic
community and the basic building block, the family,
are punished. These include adultery, gambling and
alcohol consumption. The shrouding of women and
the laws of inheritance also attach to preservation of
the community and family.
Although Islam established psychiatric hospitals as
early as 705 CE, and although at least one prominent
11th century physician (Ibn Sina Avicenna, d. 1037)
published important information on the nature of
psychiatric disorders, psychiatric services in Islamic
states, by Western standards, are limited. This is
being addressed through epidemiological studies, the
provision of new services and policy development.
Mental Health Legislation, by Western standards, is
in the process of development. Nevertheless, forensic
psychiatry has a place in Islam. The ability of an
individual to stand trial is considered, and the insanity defense is recognized. Involuntary hospitalization
is achieved through a legal process. Here, the emphasis is not on the protection of liberty, which is
considered to have abandoned some needy patients
to the streets, but on the provision of care. Psychiatric
opinion is sought if divorce is based on psychiatric
disorder, and psychiatrists may be involved in the
assessment of children when custody is in question.

Like Islam, the profession of psychiatry cuts across

ethnic and national boundaries. The profession can
make a contribution to world peace through thoughtful respect, inclusion and cooperation.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I am grateful to Dr S Sh Sadr, Chief of the Legal Medicine Organization of the I R Iran,
for the opportunity and assistance to visit colleagues in Tehran.

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